Philadelpia newspapers once again appear to have come back from the brink of the abyss.
After first balking, the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia late yesterday agreed to come to the bargaining table with Interstate General Media, the owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, potentially saving the papers from liquidation.
The Guild told members that the owners had threatened liquidation if the publisher did not come to agreement with all 11 of its unions by today.
Most of the trade unions — including the pressmen, drivers and mailers — have been working without contracts since October 2012 and were apparently willing to make concessions.
The troubled papers were taken over last April for $55 million by a group of Philadelphia businessmen that included the parking garage magnate Lewis Katz, who is a former owner of the New Jersey Nets and New Jersey Devils, and insurance mogul and Democratic power-broker George Norcross III.
But the papers, which went through bankruptcy and have had five different owners since 2006, were still hemorrhaging millions.
Dan Gross, a gossip columnist at the paper who agreed to take a buyout earlier this week, resigned as president of the union at the same time.
“They offered a buyout that made sense, and I didn’t think I should be sitting on a position negotiating a new contract if I’m leaving in a few weeks,” Gross told Media Ink.
The owners initially told the Guild they were looking to shave $8 million in costs from the newsroom .
That $8 million figure has apparently been taken off the table, according to Bill Ross, the Guild executive director.
Ross, in a memo to Guild members yesterday, said, “After a productive meeting this morning, in which the company spoke to the status of other union negotiations and the dire financial situation it still faces, the Guild Executive Board agreed to begin early bargaining on a new contract.”
The first bargaining session is slated for this afternoon.
The Guild also said its members have a one-week extension, until Jan. 25, to consider a voluntary buyout or reduced work-week package.
Ten trade unions are believed to have reached tentative pacts — which have yet to be ratified by membership.
A company spokesperson said, “We can’t comment while negotiations are in progress.”
News Nor’easter
It’s been a rough week for newspapers in the Northeast in general.
At the Atlantic City Press, Jim Hopson, the publisher who came out of retirement to oversee the paper’s sale for owner Arbata Inc., said the ACP hired Santa Fe., NM-based Dirks, Van Essen & Murray to handle the sale.
He said the 65,000-circulation title has seen profits plunge — but it is still making money.
“Like all newspapers these days, it’s not as profitable as it was 10 years ago, but it’s doing fine,” said Hopson. “It’s a healthy publishing franchise.”
Pittsburgh-based Arbata owns a Coca-Cola bottling franchise, an Asian food-products company and an energy company and wanted to drop its sole newspaper holding to concentrate on its other, more profitable businesses.
The Bitzer family has owned the paper for 60 years.
Earlier in the week, the Newhouse family, which owns Advance Publications, said it was axing 60 people from papers it owns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including 34 people at the Star-Ledger, the largest paper in New Jersey.
In addition, the New York Times Company is looking for 30 non-unionized employees to step forward to take buyouts by Jan. 25 or else it said it would begin involuntary firings.
The elimination of senior VP, corporate communications Robert Christie on Wednesday was not part of the 30, which are sought mostly from the ranks of newsroom editors.
At least four other senior vice presidents have exited in the past year with no replacements.
Fashion-a- ball
New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony is going into the magazine business.
The forward’s apparently taken a 10-percent stake in HauteTime.com, an off-shoot of the luxury publisher Haute Living, which is already putting out local editions of its luxury magazines in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Come April at the Art Basel show, Haute Time magazine is going to debut with a circulation of 50,000. A second print edition is planned for October.
“Carmelo has a passion for watches,” said Haute Living CEO Kamal Hotchandani, who founded the company nine years ago with Seth Semilof. They approached Anthony last fall.
He said Anthony owns an extensive watch collection and his “Watch of the Day” on Instagram links to HauteTime.com. “When he places a watch on Watch of the Day, the manufacturer gets 20,000 likes,” claims Hotchandani.